"Time for round two," I said as we stood outside the perimeter of the boss area.

Zoar Elab, the Living Statue, wandered in the middle of the ancient plaza, unaware it would be my latest victim. From killing a pathetic level eight mob to a colossal level fifty-eight boss, it was all in a day’s work for Herald Stone.

"Well, if we're going to be technical about it," I added, "we're at like round seventeen or so."

Kezo, Megan, and Nitana laughed at my joke. Our party was in high spirits and stood straighter than yesterday, filled with hope, in contrast to the discouragement of our previous practice. That was the effect of Herald Stone, uplifting others on his wings. If we succeeded in killing this boss, it'd raise the morale of our party and prove we could compete during the Great Hunt.

"Seventeen?" Megan said, giggling. "It’s probably more than that."

Nitana snorted. "I don't think anyone was counting."

"Buffs up, guys," Kezo said. Excitement oozed from him as he wore his complete DPS build. Occasional black and red lightning streaks jumped from one armor spike to another. It must be a unique effect of wearing its complete set.

I ate the food buffs that I bought earlier.

[Roasted Swineling: +75 Armor, +10% Healing Increase for 20 Minutes] ★★☆☆☆

[Craboreling Meat Salad]: +18 HP per Second, +3% Physical and Magical Damage Reduction for 20 Minutes] ★★☆☆☆

[Tart Dapple Juice: +15 Attack Speed, +15% Movement Speed for 20 Minutes] ★☆☆☆☆

[Roasted Swineling] and [Craboreling Meat Salad] would further help my regeneration—I wanted to reduce the need for [Healing Touch] as much as possible to make room for Totem spamming. The [Tart Dapple Juice] was another boost to my movement speed.

Then I started casting [Healing Touch] to stack [Rejuvenation Charge]. I didn’t bother using my level one [Greater Pyro Shell]; even if it were level ten, it wouldn’t help against the might of the Living Statue.

And I no longer toggled my PVP Damage settings—[Ancestral Constitution] would hamper Totem Juggling. It did give plenty of regeneration, especially when the stacks were maxed. But it also massively increased my health pool, significantly lowering the ratio of my regeneration to health. I wanted to keep my maximum health as low as possible.

How amusing that I was planning to be the tankiest, but I was now squishier than before.

After our party finished prepping, Kezo raised his sword and said, "Showtime! Remember, no pressure, especially on you, Herald. It’s a new strategy, so it’s normal if there’ll be mistakes.”

“I understand,” I assured him. “No worries.” Herald Stone doesn’t make mistakes—although that was probably better said after we won.

“I'm going in first!" Kezo declared, casting multiple skills as he charged forward.

Stepping on the snow-covered stone blocks paving the plaza alerted the boss to his presence. The Living Statue faced him and bellowed in anger. It raised its hands above its head, gathering power for its homing energy ball.

The rest of us readied ourselves to charge afterward. The boss threw the energy ball in Kezo’s direction. I galloped into the boss area, followed by Megan and Nitana. I could already feel the improvement in my speed.

“Kezo, we’re here!” I called out.

An explosion followed by a hurricane of electricity covered our party leader as the energy ball hit him. He came out without any injuries, thanks to Nitana's barrier.

Kezo slashed the air, sending enormous waves of black flames at the boss to ensure he got its attention. Then he turned tail, running diagonally to our left. The boss followed him; the two of them were on a path perpendicular to me. This positioning made placing the first Totem easier.

Fortunately, both Totems could be cast from a reasonable distance. I planted the [Superior Replicant Totem] in the middle of Kezo and the Living Statue. This was the moment of truth if my strategy was going to work.

The Living Statue passed by the Totem. The multi-faced goblin statue glowed blue and used [Enraging Call]. The boss stopped in its tracks, kicking up earth and snow as it braked. It grumbled as it turned around. Dozens of thorny vines shot out of its joints and the cracks of its stone body, forming into long blades.

"I got it!" I said as I applied [Withering Brand] on the boss, followed by the other Totem behind it. Then I dropped [Gnawing Rot] beneath its stone hooves.

The Living Statue slashed the Superior Totem, instantly dispelling my summon. It clumsily turned around to kill my other Totem. I noticed that it moved slower after getting debuffed.

"Yes!" I triumphantly shouted. Let the Totem juggling begin!

Black flames covered Kezo. He dashed towards the boss in the blink of an eye, appearing like a hurtling meteor. A huge explosion swallowed the colossal Living Statue. The boss’s health bar slowly but surely lowered a sliver at a time. Amid the flames, Kezo was slashing away like it was what he was born to do.

The tall dancing flames made it hard to make out the boss for a couple of seconds before they faded away. It was a slight problem I hadn't considered, but I continued spamming Totems. I hoped I wasn't placing them too far from the boss.

"Now, you guys can attack too," I told Megan and Nitana. We waited for Kezo to attack the boss first to ensure he'd be the target of the energy balls.

"I can't believe this is really working!" Megan celebrated. She placed her [Spell Bonded Totem] near the boss while staying far away, having learned her lesson from dying several times yesterday. She died more than I did.

Nitana was positioned closer to the boss so she could cast her barrier sprite either on the Totems or Kezo. We left it up to her to decide, and she was doing a good job so far. She was our backup in case I messed up, which shouldn't happen—oops, except this time.

I mistakenly placed a Totem to the left of the boss. It hacked it with a sideways swing of its blade and then proceeded to attack Kezo before I could summon the next Totem. Nitana was there to protect our main DPS.

"Sorry, I missed that one," I said after putting the Totems in the correct positions to make the Living Statue spin in place.

"That's what I'm here for," she answered as she cast a continuous stream of fireballs at the boss, one of her new skills for single target damage instead of her usual AoE-oriented spells. In our previous practice, Nitana contributed more to our party DPS after changing her build. And it seemed she made more improvements after we parted ways yesterday.

But the one who had the most change was Kezo. He was in his element using his DPS build. Now able to concentrate on attacking, he consistently whittled down the boss' health at more than twice our previous speed.

The Living Statue threw another energy ball at Kezo. Nitana negated it just in time; she correctly saved her barrier sprite skill for it instead of using it on a Totem.

The boss reared up on its hind legs.

"Earthquake incoming!" I loudly said for everyone to hear. They didn't need me to tell them that. We all knew what the boss was about to do, having succumbed to this powerful AoE spell many times before.

All of us ran away from the Living Statue. Its front hooves came down, slamming the earth. The impact blew away the snow, and the stone blocks cracked.

"Go! Go! Go!" Kezo urged us. The expanding quakes were right behind him. The stone blocks of the plaza moved about, grinding against each other as if they were floating on water, the earth beneath moving freely.

I didn't need to cast Totems in this situation because the Living Statue stood still while channeling the skill. The Totem would immediately die to the quakes; we had already seen this yesterday with Megan's Totem. It was a simple matter of waiting this thing out.

Engaging the boss afterward was the hard part.

The ground calmed down. "It's coming!" I planted a Totem, and we retreated further.

The boss ran after us but was caught by the taunt of the Totem. It swatted it away before continuing forward. The next Totem in its path was protected by Nitana, buying me a second more to place [Withering Brand] on it. The Totem after that got trampled, and so did the next one.

"I can't start juggling," I said, clenching my teeth in annoyance. We fled while I plopped Totem after Totem behind us to slow it down.

Lesson learned: it was impossible to put a Totem behind the boss if it was chasing me. We should spread out after the Living Statue's AoE skills. Then the others should bait it, giving me the needed opening to correctly place Totems and begin our strategy.

"It needs another target," said Kezo. "Nitana, put a barrier on me!"

I wanted to tell him to stay with the group because I was going to figure something out, but he was right. That was the only way to salvage this. "Be careful. I'll catch it the first chance I get."

Kezo veered left while the rest of us went right. The pesky giant statue chose to go right as well. Kezo unleashed a flurry of attacks to get its attention, but it kept chasing us.

Next, Kezo chased the boss and used his own [Enraging Call] to taunt it. The boss swiped at him with its massive blade, destroying Nitana's barrier. Kezo turned tail as fast as he could before the next attack. The boss went after him and forgot about us.

"Good job," I called out as if I was the leader of our party. I headed back to the middle of the plaza and left a Totem there. "Here! Lead it this way!"

Kezo followed my instructions, zooming past the Totem. The boss was about to catch up to him when it got taunted by the Totem. I quickly placed another Totem behind it.

"And we're back in business, ladies and gentlemen," I said, cackling as I flooded the area with [Gnawing Rot]. Totems here, Totems there, Totems everywhere!